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Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Losing the Witchy Cottage

Now that it's had some time to sink in and I'm finally capable of forming coherent thoughts, I suppose I should announce to my readers that, within the next few months, we'll be forced to say goodbye to the Witchy Cottage.

Surprised? Trust me, we are too.

The Witchy Cottage is a name we gave to our rental house, a place we've lived since September 2014 - not even a year now. We moved into it after a horrible experience with a complex left us with a foul taste in our mouth for apartment living. Living in the Witchy Cottage has been wonderful, but I suppose it's drawing to a close.

We found out rather unexpectedly when our dishwasher stopped working and we needed to place a maintenance order to have it repaired. Our property management company had been on vacation all of last week, so we were unable to get a hold of them. When we called them today, that's when they hit us with the bad news.

While we went through a property management company, there is an owner involved. Unbeknownst to both us and our PMC, the owners had decided to rent the house so that they could keep it as a backup plan when they moved. Apparently, the husband's job "fell through" and the owners are now wanting to move back home - to our home.

If it were up to the owners, we'd have 30 days to get out. That's why I'd pretty much never advocate renting directly from an owner unless you're sure about who they are. Fortunately, we have a property management company that's requiring they fulfill our lease. That means we have until October 1st to find something new. Our property manager also offered that, if we find something new before then and need to make the move early, they would allow us to do so without having to pay a break lease.

For those of you who have been reading Witchy Words since we moved in here, you would know just how devastating this news is to us. We had planned to live here for at least five years and then purchase our own home. So having to find a new place less than a year into our lease is troubling. The Witchy Cottage was the only house north of the river that had three bedrooms, space for the spiritual room and accepted all four of our pets all within our budget. So far, we haven't found any houses up north that meets the requirements. It means that we'll likely have to move down south - which comes with its own set of obstacles, including finding a new vet, a new doctor, a new mechanic, a new place for Zumba once we get settled in. The whole thing is frustrating and adds an immense amount of stress to packing and searching for a home.

There are some up sides. It's a chance to find a place with more space, particularly more finished space. One of my biggest complaints about the Witchy Cottage is that, aside from the main part of the top floor, nearly the entire bottom floor and one room of the top floor is unfinished, creating space we can't really utilize day-to-day. It's about 1000 square feet per floor, but we're probably only able to use 60% of it. While it's larger than, say, an apartment, it doesn't leave a lot of room for myself, my husband, our roommate and my four familiars. And that's been a bit of an issue.

In addition, the house is a little out of the way. We're an outlier for Circle of Fountains and it's about 15 minutes to our nearest grocery store. There's really nothing in the immediate vicinity where we live. In fact, I've been trying to get back into running these past few weeks, but a lack of sidewalks and running area makes it difficult. I ended up slopping through what seemed like an impromptu creek to avoid a car the other day. So it would be nice to find a house in a more centralized location.

Change. It's not something I do well with. I wish I were more comfortable with it, but my anxiety doesn't give me many choices. I was genuinely excited about the Witchy Cottage when we moved in. Perhaps I'll be genuinely excited about the next one too once we sign a lease and things become less up in the air.

I'm so sorry that this is happening to you. Moving can be a pain (being in the military, moving is my life :P) but i know you'll find something better. You've still got a couple months so dont stress! Good luck!

Gosh, I couldn't imagine. I grew up in the same house my entire life and have moved more in the past seven years than either of my parents have ever moved combined, even if you count the moves they've made together as separate moves. It's been crazy. I'm going to be 27 in September and I'm craving stability, so I'd love to find something that we can live in for a long while - at least until my husband's loans are paid off and we can afford to buy. Thank you so much!

Oh no! That's frustrating :( I hope you find something new, and better! In the UK we don't rent homes as much, we own them (with a mortgage usually), and saving up to buy your own house sounds like the right way to go. Good luck! x

It's the same way here in the US. Both of our parents keep talking about getting a mortgage. Unfortunately, the whole student loan situation my husband is in combined with the fact that I only started building my credit this year has put us in a bit of a pickle for buying a house. We're hoping to get enough of his loans paid off in five years that we can finally buy. However, in the meantime, we've learned that renting a house is far superior to renting an apartment. We paid $650 USD per month to live in a very cramped two bedroom apartment. We fought neighbors, parking, bugs, maintenance and all sorts of problems, and paid pet rent on top of it. With a roommate paying 1/3rd of the rent (fellow CF member Tony, who's a lot like a brother to me), my husband and I pay $634 a month to live in a four bedroom house. After this past year, we'll never return to apartment living ever. Thank you so much for your kind words though!

Oh I'm so sorry to hear that Marietta! After everything you guys went through you deserved to have somewhere you could settle and feel secure. :(I really hope you can find somewhere soon that fits even better than the Witchy Cottage, and that you get to stay there for as long as you want. So many of my friends here have had similar problems with owners selling up, landlords suddenly giving notice, or just not renewing leases, and it sucks. Wishing you all the luck in your search.

Thank you so much! I truly appreciate it. I do have some good news on that front, but I'm waiting until after my husband's surgery and diagnosis before I make any official announcements. But thank you again!

I'm so sorry Marietta! I hope you're able to find the perfect home for yourself, hubby, furbabies, and roommate that will have everything you've all been dreaming of. I know your perfect home is waiting for you!

My best friend is going through the same thing right now. The owner decided out of the blue to sell the house and is trying to force them out in 30 days. They need more time that than, especially considering her brother is moving to the area and is going to help shoulder the burden of renting a larger house for him and his girlfriend and my best friend, her husband, and their 4 year old. Since the housing market has picked up dramatically, houses are flying on and off faster than you can look through all the pictures posted online.

I wish you guys the best of luck in finding a new place. It's a change, but I have a feeling this is going to be for the best.

Oh my gosh, that sounds awful. I can certainly sympathize. We rented a house in 2012 that we had to leave because it sold. That was of course during the recession after the housing bubble burst. We lived there for 16 months. Not only was it for sale for those entire 16 months, but it'd actually been on the market for nearly two years prior. We were constantly reminded that it was for sale by all of the showings we had to clean up for, which was frustrating. It never felt like home. And when it finally sold, it hit us like a ton of bricks. We'd been planning to move by the following May, but it was swiped out the year before in September. Ick.

While looking for houses to rent, we've watched ones leased sight-unseen in less than 24 hours. It's been nuts. So I also sympathize there too. Yikes! However, we do have some good news I can't wait to share. I'm just postponing the post until after my husband goes through surgery and gets an official diagnosis.

I'm so sorry to hear- Moving is never easy and doubly so when it's not your choice. I sounds, though, like you are trying to see the positive, which, really, is the only thing we can do in the face of the constant state of the universe known as 'change'.Here are a few more bits of positivity:-You'll get to start your next new adventure, potentially in October (which feels particularly good timing for endings/beginnings)-moving forces one to reevaluate and cull the stuff that's not truly useful and/or beautiful (super-charge all your cleaning/organizing goals)-Moving is easier with a support system (which it sounds like you have)-AND moving with the help of said support system allows a chance to practice humility, gratitude and general good feelings.Good vibes!Cat

I completely agree with all of your points. Thank you for making them clearer to me. No matter how positive I've tried to be about the move, I've also had low points. I've probably come back to your post three or four times to remind myself that it will get better. We'll actually be starting our new adventure in late August, so I do have good news! I'm just waiting until after my husband's surgery and official diagnosis before I share it. Thank you again, Cat! I truly appreciate it.

I may take you up on that! I gave 10 of our boxes to a friend who was moving about four months ago, and loaned the rest to my parents during their house renovation. The renovations were supposed to take two weeks; they're now on month three and we've only recovered a fourth of the boxes so far. You guys were incredible with all the boxes you gave us last time, so I hate to ask for the same favor again. But if Aleck's work has any spares, we'd be happy to take them. Let us know and we can pick them up or arrange a drop off. Thank you so much!

Thank you so much. It's definitely been a more positive experience than the apartment, that's for sure. I have some good news, but I'm waiting until after my husband's surgery and diagnosis to post it. You're going to like the new place!

Thank you so much! I'm sure you've seen pictures of the new place then! I'm keeping it all hush until after my husband's surgery and diagnosis here on the blog, but I'm nearly bursting to share it all. Thank you again!

Nothing happens by coincidence - everything in life has a purpose. I know this is difficult, but spend your end days there in happiness and bless the home before you leave that the owners will be able to get back on their feet again and prosper. This door may be closing but that just means another one is about to open. <3

I'm Marietta, a nontheistic witch mixing modernity with traditional practices. My blog focuses on my journey with my familiars and connected spirits, diving deeper into my work with the Man in Black and my psychopomp guide D. Here, I present my rituals, altars and spells as needed while exploring witchcraft theory and history.